A young patient in her 20’s diagnosed with COVID-19 had to undergo double lung transplant surgery. An Indian origin doctor led the study in Chicago.
It was rather tragic news when it was reported that a young woman in her 20’s had to go through double lung transplant surgery due to the destruction of lungs by COVID. The surgery was done at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and was led by an Indian origin doctor.
A lung transplant was first performed back in 1963 at the University of Mississippi, though the patient only survived for 18 days post-transplant. Later when immunosuppressant drugs were invented in the 1980s several organs were successfully transplanted.
A double lung transplant or a bilateral transplant is having both the lung transplant ted sequentially after the other. The surgery on the COVID-19 patient took place in Chicago lasted about 10 hours, several hours longer than anticipated.
The surgery was reportedly even more difficult as the woman’s lungs were “completely plastered to the tissue around them, the heart, the chest wall, and diaphragm”, according to the surgeons.
The patient is currently on a ventilator post-surgery, though the new lungs are healthy and performing well. The novel virus, COVID-19 had infected her chest cavity and ravaged her muscles, making it difficult to breathe. The doctor who performed the surgery stated that the surgery was her only chance of survival. However, he further added that it wouldn’t be safe for patients of all ages, but only for the young with no commodities.